Radioactivating substance.



J. LANDIN. RADIOACTIVATTING SUBSTANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30. 1914.

1,175,533. Patented Mar.14,1916.

A v UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN mums, or STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN.

RADIOACTIVATINGI suns'rnncn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January-30;1914. Serial No. 815,418.

troduction thereinto of. radioactive emanations, especially emanation of radium, from radioactive substances producing emanations, for instance salts of radium, by means of solid or liquid mediums surroundingor' embracing said substances, said mediums being not only indifferent with relation to the liquid or gas aswell as to the embraced radioactive substance, buthaving also the property of absorbing emanation from the said substance-in their mass, allowing it to pass only through the said mass and yielding it to the liquid or gas whenthe medium together with the substance producing'emanation is introduced into or brought into contact with the latter. The medium in question should thus be capable of readily absorbing emanation from solid radioactive bodies or solutions thereof and should. not be soluble in the liquid or de'stroyable by the gas to be radioactivated. As examples of such mediums suitable vfor the radioactiva tion of water for drinking or bathing purposes and of air or oxygen for inhalation there may be mentioned paraffin,- wax, paraflin oil. If a radioactive substance producing emanatlons is mclosed in or mixed into orsurrounded with such a medium, a body ready for direct radio activation of liquids and gases is obtained which is herein referred to as an activating substance. By activatin liquids or gases by means of activating su stances obtained in this way the. inconvenience is avoided which accompanies the hitherto employed activating methods in whichthe liquid to be activatedis brought into direct contact with the radioactive body producing emanations, said inconvenience consisting in that the said bodythereby is easily afl'ected so-as to be lost by and'by. For instance, in radioactivating water by radioactive substance brought into direct contact therewith, part of said substance is always dissolved andthus lost and also befouls the water. In activating air by causing it to bubble up through a solution of. a

radium salt, impurities present in the air,

for instance small traces of sulfuric acid,

will precipitate an insoluble salt in the radium solution, said salt being far less capable of yielding emanations than the solution, whence a constant degree of activation of the air cannot be obtained. The same will bethe case with water'activated with a material producing emanations, the quantity ,of said material being successively diminished by dissolution through the nfluence of the material to be activated.

As an example of applying the invention to the activation of liquids a method may here be stated for producing radio-active (holding radium emanations) water bymeans of a radium saltjin solid or dissolved form and with, paraffin as a medium. The

radium salt is incorporated or inclosed'in a sufficient quantit of paraflin for protecting Patented Mar. 14,1916.

it from direct c ntact with the water, said paraflin being melted-for this purpose and then moldedforinstance into the shape ofa ball. The activating substance thus;obtained is-then introduced (for instance In a frame of silver wire) into the water to be made radioactive which should be' contained in a vessel adapted to be closed for avoiding loss of emanation. I

On theaccompanying drawing such an activating substance is illustrated in cross section.

a is the radium salt, b the bail shaped coating of paraflin, and 0 a basket shaped frame of silver wire.

By suitably regulating the quantity of radium salt in the activating substance thus prepared and the time for its contact with the water the latter can be activated to any desired strength, i. e. acquire the desired quantity of radium emanations. The emanation produced by the radium is then absorbed by the pa'raflin oil which again yields it to the water in co'ntactin therewith. The

quantity ofparaffin oil as that of parafiinm the previous example) should not be greater than is required for well inclosing and protecting the radium salt, as otherwise a too high quantity of :emanations will remain in the oil without any use for the water. a

Other liquids than water, as milk, beer,

juices, etc., can be activated in the same wayas thatdescribed for water.

In activating gases these, need only be,

brought into. contact with (for instance led around) an activating substance with a. strength depending upon the desired degree of activation; if the medium of the activating substance consists of a liquid, the gas can be caused to bubble through the said substance, the emanation then being transferred into the gas.

The air coming from the activation apparatus of-course also can be used directly for inhalation, for instance by means of an inhalation mask,.in which case it of course v obtains the desired quantity of emanations.

by being exposed to the influence of the activating substance during a suitable space of time.

As it sometimes" may be advantageous to have the possibilityof observing if there is activating substance present in a vessel, the said substance may be made self-luminous by mixing into it bodies becoming fluorescentin radioactive radiation, as for instance sulfid of zinc, barium-platinocyanid. These substances are then mixed into the medium in the same :way as the radioactive. bodies producing emanations and preferably simultaneously with these.

Having now particularly described the I nature of my invention and the manner of its operat1on,what I claim is:

1. Improved radioactivating substances for liquids and gases, consisting of an emanation producing material inclosed in a nonporous medium, indiiferent in respect to the radioactive material as Well as the medium to be activated and further possessing the property of absorbing the emanation in its mass and allowing it to pass only through the said mass into the medium to beiactivated, the radioactive material being 'thus.

being coated with a body, becoming fluorescent in radioactive radiation.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN LANDIN.

Witnesses:

JOHN Enianne, BIRGER NORDFELDT; 

